Links Round-Up: 5 For Friday

Rasberry Ants Spreading Through Texas

The Rasberry ant (not raspberry) was first discovered in Houston, TX in 2002, but has now spread to 24 different counties in the state of Texas. They are now also found in North Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida. More…

NPMA Legislative Day in Washington – Clark Pest Control

Clark Pest Control participated in NPMA Legislative Day sending two executives, Here’s what they learned. More…

Bulwark Scorpion Control Makes The Evening News

With the scorpions making an earlier than usual appearance in Arizona this spring, residents were in need of some answers. CBS 5 News in Phoenix called Bulwark Exterminating for some those answers. Watch the video here.

Wolf Spiders: Pests or Diamonds

We’ve all had an experience with a wolf spider at least once in our lives. Here’s EnviroTech’s experience with the hairy looking spider. More…

Spring is Bee Season

Aww, spring is finally here… For some of the country anyway. Be on the lookout for hives popping up on your property. Here are a few tips on what to do, and what not to do, if you have a bee hive(s). More…

Pest Of The Week: Black Widow Spider

Female black widow spider guarding an egg case – Species Latrodectus mactans (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the most recognizable, and perhaps the most feared, spiders in the United States is the Black Widow spider. This distinction comes from the female’s notoriously venomous bite. While the female Black Widow spider is generally shy in nature, she can become aggressive and bite when she is provoked, or when she is protecting her young. Her venom is one of the most potent venoms found on the planet. Only female Black Widows will bite humans. The males, who are brown and white in color, cannot bite because of their size.

The female Black Widow spider measures about 1/2 inch in length, with a shiny black body, long thin legs and large oval abdomen with a red “hourglass” pattern on the underside. Black Widows make their webs wherever there is water or other insects. They are common among the garages, patios, sheds, and storage areas of a home. Professional spider control methods are successfully used to eliminate them from around the home.

Related articles

• Seven Black Widow Spiders
• The Rasberry Ant: A Houston Original
• Close Encounters With The 8-Legged Kind

Anthony Ball

Transcript From Black Widow Spider Control:

Black Widow Control Professional:

“Today we’re going to talk about black widows. The most common place to find them are right down by the J-rail, just all crazy mixed up down here by the J-rail, okay? Why? Because the J-rail offers goes into, inside of the wall, offers a lot of cool air coming out, cool, moist air coming out. Also is a great place for crickets to breed. Remember that crickets breed in these plants because there are water drippers on the plants, so there’s a huge population of crickets in the yard, therefore, that which preys on crickets will also do well, which is black widows, okay?”

“So, the black widow, if you walk around the foundation of the house, you’ll find a web like this purple web I have here, at the base down by the J-rail. Very common to find them right at the entryway, right at the entryway here or there, the other place.”

“So, how do you know it’s a black widow’s web if there’s no black widow in the web? Number one, they’re chaotic, okay? A chaotic web means that it has no order to it. If you remember the story Charlotte’s Webb, a lot of spiders create a pattern to their web, you know, a design in their web. Black widows have no pattern to their webs, none at all. It’s just all chaotic. Often times, you’ll find leaves and debris in the black widow’s web because the web is so strong; it’s the strongest web of any spider here in Arizona.”

“And, so it’s a very strong, sticky web. It’s low to the ground. Sometimes you will see severe infestations black widows with webs up in the eves. And you’ll actually be able to see her sometimes in the very corner; she’s trying to hide as much as she can, but usually it’s down by the ground because their number one food source is crickets. So, if the web is low to the ground and it doesn’t have any spider out in it, other spiders don’t usually recluse back into a lair, they don’t recluse back into a dark space. Most of them don’t.”

- Bulwark Exterminating Spider Control

Latrodectus hesperus with egg sac (Photo credit: Wikipedia)